No. 1 Indian Hills stands in South Plains' way in NJCAA quarterfinals

Texans aim to slow nation's highest-scoring juco team

South Plains College was ranked No. 1 for two weeks in January, and Indian Hills Community College is ranked No. 1 now.

So the fact the two teams are meeting in the NJCAA men’s basketball tournament quarterfinals might understate the game’s appeal.

“They understand that tomorrow’s a national championship game, for all practical purposes,” South Plains coach Steve Green said Wednesday when asked about his players’ mentality. “You’ve got to win tomorrow to play the next day. We’ve approached it like tomorrow’s the biggest game of the year.”

Indian Hills (32-2), an Ottumwa, Iowa, school, and South Plains (29-5) square off at noon today in the first of four quarterfinal games at the Hutchinson, Kan., Sports Arena.

Indian Hills, whose colors and logo resemble Florida State’s, leads the NJCAA in scoring at 111.3 points per game. The Warriors have six players averaging in double figures and two more at 9.2 and 7.9 points per game.

Indian Hills suffered a setback in Tuesday’s win over NMJC, however, as second-leading scorer Roderick Bobbitt suffered a broken arm and had surgery early Wednesday.

Bobbitt averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game and scored 26 against NMJC before he got hurt.

“We still have a tremendous amount of respect for their team,” Green said. “I’m sure they feel like that could be a blow to them, but I look at it like they’ve got other guys that can play.”

And 7-foot freshman Akolda Manyang (9.2) does for Indian Hills, Green said, what 6-11 Yanick Moreira did for the Texans’ 36-0 team two years ago.

“The 7-footer’s still a little raw, but very athletic around the basket and blocks shots,” Green said. “He allows them to gamble all over the floor, kind of like Yanick did for us.”

South Plains is led by 6-1 freshman Andre Spight (16.0), 6-8 sophomore Ryan Martin (13.0), 6-4 sophomore Roderick Lawrence (12.8) and 6-5 sophomore Billydee Williams (10.5). During the postseason, 6-9 sophomore Michael Karena and 6-7 freshman Emmanuel Omogbo have had some of their best games of the season and provided a strong inside presence.

The Texans will need more of that, and guard play will be essential. So the onus will be on Spight, Lawrence and point guard Sekou Harris.

“They want to full-court press,” Green said of Indian Hills. “We want to go down and try to finish at the basket. Anytime you (as a defense) extend the floor, you leave part of it open, so hopefully we can get to those spots.”

Indian Hills was one of three teams South Plains scrimmaged back on Oct. 4 at the Juco Jamboree in Plano. Neither school’s website posted a final score, and Green recalled the scrimmage as “pretty much a tossup.”

So the Texans have some face-to-face familiarity with the Warriors, which could help.

“No question, yeah,” Green said. “I wouldn’t say it’s advantage to us, but I do think it won’t come as a surprise, the style they play, just because we’ve seen it. We saw it front and center.”

The South Plains-Indian Hills winner advances to a semifinal at 6 p.m. Friday against No. 12 seed Trinity Valley (29-6) or No. 13 seed Harkum, Pa. (31-3), both of whom upset higher-seeded teams in the round of 16.